Wednesday, 9 March 2011

DAP News. Breaking News by Soy Sopheap

PHNOM PENH, March 9--Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen on Wednesday called for all people and relevant authorities to contribute in building a new port that is very crucial in transportation sector.

He added that in the future, Cambodia truly would need to import many goods and it’s exports will also be increased as a result of its membership of World Trade Organization.

Once again, PM Hun Sen praised the role of China and India in recovering the world economy while US and European countries was facing the same problem seriously. He added that if China and India whose population are about 2.5 billion facing the economic crisis, the word would be mess up.

He added more that China’s investment in Cambodia does not decrease and major projects which account for a large amount of money would not be delayed. Obviously, just two hydroelectric projects in Koh Kong province, worth 1,000 million dollars had been constructed.

He added more that at this time China rose as the world’s second-largest economy and would be able to rank number 1 soon. Although there are countries opposing against China, they could not compete with China because of the economic growth of China.

Although Cambodia is capable of exporting rice about 2,5 million tons, that amount could not compare with a province of China whose population is about 80 or 100 million.

All countries around the world should cooperate each other, and although China gets angry US of selling weapons to Taiwan, both countries still do business with each other, he added.

The premier said that China’s tourists increased more than 50 per cent in January 2011 compared to 2010.

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Cambodia starts to build container terminal with Chinese support

Wednesday, 09 March 2011 07:47 administrator

KANDAL, Cambodia, March 9 -- Cambodia broke ground for the construction of the Kingdom's second largest new container terminal of Phnom Penh Autonomous Port on Wednesday in order to meet the growing demands of shipments.

The ground-breaking ceremony was presided over by Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen and Chinese Ambassador to Cambodia Pan Guangxue. It was also attended by 2,000 participants, including top government officials, diplomats, locals and students.

According to the master plan, the 10-hectare terminal is being constructed by the China-based Shanghai Construction (Group) General Company with a soft loan of 28.2 million U.S. dollars provided by the Chinese side. It will take 30 months to be completed.

The terminal will have a total capacity of 120,000 TEUs (20- foot equivalent unit) per year and it will consist of a wharf platform enabling two 5,000 tones of container berths.

The terminal is located along the Mekong River in Kean Svay district, about 30 kilometers east of Phnom Penh.

Speaking at the ceremony, Hun Sen said that the new terminal is a new achievement of numerous ones under bilateral cooperation between Cambodia and China and expressed thanks to China for its constantly financial supports to Cambodia.

"I strongly believe the new container dock will increase the loading/unloading capacity of the Phnom Penh Autonomous Port," he said, adding that "The new dock will become a main hub for distributing goods across the country that can push the internal integration, international trade and regional trade a step further, especially to realize our rice export target of 1 million metric tons per annum."

The terminal will not only connect Phnom Penh Autonomous Port to Vietnam's Cai Map port, but also help to ship goods directly to Singapore, Malaysia, and China's Hong Kong and Shanghai, as well as other neighboring countries and regions without ship transfer, the prime minister said.

"In the coming years, Cambodia will have more goods for export, besides garment exports, we will have agricultural products and we have already opened market with China on rice, cassava and other products, so it will facilitate Cambodia's exports to China and other countries," said Hun Sen.

The new terminal will add more capacity to its existing Phnom Penh Autonomous Port of only 80,000 TEUs, said Hun Sen.

Pan Guangxue said that the construction of the terminal is a new symbol of closer cooperation between the two countries.

"China sees that the construction of the new container terminal is vital to keeping up with the increasing demands of Cambodia's imports and exports," he said.

"It will be essential to boost more activities of enterprises, the manufacturing industry and agricultural sector."

He reiterated that China is committed to helping Cambodia in all sectors including waterway transportation, roads, bridges, irrigation system, and electricity so as to boost the development of Cambodian economy.(Xinhua/sp) .

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Cambodia's exports worth of 3.3 bln USD in 2010

Wednesday, 09 March 2011 07:46 administrator

PHNOM PENH, March 9 -- Cambodia's exports worth a total of 3.3 billion U.S. dollars in 2010, according to a government's statistic data received Wednesday.

The statistic data filed by Ministry of Commerce showed that the ministry, in 2010, permitted licenses for exports of products produced in Cambodia to international markets worth a total of 3, 326,698,599 U.S. dollars, an increase of 27 percent compared to a year earlier which recorded at 2,598,639,765 U.S. dollars.

The statistic also indicated that approved licenses for exports were granted to 298 factories producing garments and footwear, and additional of 70 factories producing other materials.

It said the garment and shoes factories employed 376,026 workers, among them 345,159 were women.

Those workers absorbed about 372 million U.S. dollars in wages for the whole year of 2010, it added.

The major markets for Cambodia's exports are America and European Union.

The total exports to America in 2010 stood at 2,188,609,076 U.S. dollars, an increase of 24.85 percent compared to a year earlier that recorded at 435, 670, 640 U.S dollars while to the EU markets valued at 842,514,567 U.S. dollars, an increase of 28.53 percent compared to 655,461,015 U.S. dollars a year earlier.

According to the statistics, the main products exporting to American markets were: garment, footwear, bicycle, bag, pet food, and rice, while to European markets were garment, footwear, rice and raw sugar.

Other products and materials for exports included crude palm oil, natural rubber, tobacco, and fabric.

Garment sector is the biggest income earner for the country.(Xinhua/sp) .

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WB Report on Cambodia Land Management and Administration Project

Wednesday, 09 March 2011 07:45 By Soy Sophea

The World Bank’s Board of Executive Directors met on Tuesday to discuss an Inspection Panel investigation of the Cambodia Land Management and Administration Project (LMAP) and the proposals of World Bank Management responding to the findings of the Inspection Panel.

The Board considered the Panel report and approved Management’s Action Plan for addressing the issues raised by the Panel, according to the WB press release.

The Panel Investigation report notes that the Project “undoubtedly benefited about one million households,” and recognizes “this important achievement of LMAP.” The project provided 1.24 million predominantly poor Cambodians with land titles and its goal was to provide fair and transparent access to land in a country where property rights were destroyed through decades of conflict. The report agrees with the view that securing land rights is critical to sustained poverty reduction in Cambodia.

The release added the the Panel also found there were problems, many of which Management identified in an earlier report in 2009. Residents in the Boeung Kak Lake area were denied access to due process of adjudication of their property claims and were displaced in violation of the policies the Bank agreed with the Government for handling resettlement. Management did not adequately follow up on strengthening public awareness and community participation, and there were delays in implementing dispute resolution mechanisms and the assistance to improve state land management. The Panel also found management was too slow to respond to the evictions.

“We are deeply troubled and frustrated about the people who are being forced from their homes. We have been working hard to try and help them, with an action plan offering the Government financing and technical advice to find practical solutions. We are open to other ways to help these people. We have repeatedly called on the Government to end the evictions. We are seeking a positive Government response,” said World Bank President, Robert Zoellick.

The Panel Investigation was conducted in response to a Request for Inspection submitted on September 4, 2009, by NGOs on behalf of residents in the Boeung Kak Lake area of central Phnom Penh, who have been forcibly resettled by the Phnom Penh Municipality and a private developer to make way for a new development. The Inspection Panel Report focused on whether the Bank has complied with its own policies including Resettlement Policies during the design, implementation and supervision of the LMAP.

The residents of Boeung Kak Lake alleged that evictions were being carried out in violation of the agreed Resettlement Policy Framework established under LMAP, and applicable to the eviction of people from state land in project titling areas.

An IDA credit for LMAP was approved by the Board on February 26, 2002, in an amount equivalent to US $24.3 million. The project was designed to support the first phase of the Government of Cambodia’s long-term plan to build a modern land administration system, by improving land tenure security and promoting the development of efficient land markets. Canada, Finland and Germany provided co-financing to the project. Cambodia’s land administration system was largely destroyed during the Khmer Rouge era.

The Government canceled financing for the project on September 7, 2009 after the Bank suggested joint suspension of the project pending discussions on the application of its safeguard policies for handling resettlement issues.

"The claims of the Boeung Kak Lake community are serious. The issues raised involve fundamental questions of their land rights and tenure security. In assessing Bank Management compliance, the Panel found that the evictions took place in violation of the Bank policy on Involuntary Resettlement and resulted in grave harm to the affected families and community. The Panel notes the fundamental importance of actions to address the harm suffered by people in project areas and of compliance by Bank Management with Bank policies, including on Involuntary Resettlement," said Roberto Lenton, Inspection Panel Chairperson.

Going forward, the Bank seeks to pursue high-level engagement with the Government of Cambodia and Development Partners to support affected communities in a manner that responds to their development and livelihood needs. Management proposed to report back to the Board on the implementation of the Action Plan within 60 days.

“We call on the Government to stop the evictions and to find a way to help the people. Over the last decade Cambodia has experienced high levels of economic growth, leading to increased pressure on land. The development of a fair and just land administration needs to keep pace with rapid economic development. We will ensure that lessons learned from this project are applied more broadly,” said Annette Dixon, Country Director for Cambodia.